The present invention relates generally to cleaning equipment and relates more particularly to a device for cleaning hook and loop fasteners.
Hook and loop fasteners, such as the type sold under the trademark "VELCRO" by Velcro USA Inc., Nutley, N.J., are used in a variety of fields, particularly in garments as flap and pocket closures. They are also used to secure an adjustable detachable band holding an item temporarily in place. Examples of such usage include sporting equipment wherein hook and loop fasteners are used to attach tent flys to supporting poles, bicycle accessories to bicycle frames, and, in place of shoelaces, to adjustably secure shoes to a wearer's foot. Another area wherein hook and loop fasteners have enjoyed widespread usage is in the medical equipment field. Adjustable pneumatic cuffs for blood pressure testing and patient securing straps for CAT scanners are just a few examples of such usage.
Although hook and loop fasteners serve admirably for these and other purposes in view of their infinite adjustability, durability, light weight and ease of attachment by sewing or gluing, there nonetheless remains one noticeable disadvantage of such fasteners which is the tendency of the hooked fastener portion to attact and collect all sorts of debris including hair, lint and other particles which become enmeshed in and trapped by the closely spaced plastic hooks. The looped portion of the fastener in contrast does not have this undesirable collecting characteristic and remains in a clean condition even in a debris filled environment.
Although it might be expected that the collected debris could be dislodged from the hooked fastener portion by relative movement of the looped portion therealong, in fact this has practically no cleaning affect since the closed loops are unable to pick up and detach the debris from the hooks and, furthermore, the hooks tend to seize the loops, arresting relative movement.
It has also been suggested that the hooked fastener portion be cleaned by raking another hooked fastener portion through it. This is difficult to carry out since any debris picked up by the second hooked portion on one stroke is likely on the next stroke to become retransferred back onto the initial hooked portion. It is thus necessary to manually pick off the individual pieces of debris between cleaning strokes, lest they return to the original hooked fastener material. In addition, such a process is time consuming and relatively awkward, since a small limp piece of hooked fastener material is difficult to manipulate over a large fastener area to produce any significant cleaning effect.
In medical equipment, the hooked and looped fastener bands are often relatively large in area and are often in contact with hair, clothing, dressings, skin and other debris contributing materials. Since cleanliness is of special importance in medical devices, it can be understood that the tedious process described cannot be considered a satisfactory solution to the fastener cleaning problem.